LanguagePapers are published in English only. Non-native English speaking authors should have their manuscripts read and corrected by native English speaking colleagues prior to submission to avoid rejection. The roles of the Editor and Reviewers are not to correct English grammar, punctuation or spelling.

Formatting of textThe original manuscript should be Rich Text Format (rtf), 12 point Times New Roman throughout, and double-spaced. Do not justify the right margin. Use only the regular and italic fonts, with the italic font only for the scientific names of the genus and species. Do not use boldface or vary type size for any sections or headers. Put returns only at the end of paragraphs, not at the end of each line. Do not indent each paragraph.

species novaFigure, figures. Not lower case; no full stop after the pluralEditor, editors. In square brackets, full stop after the pluralPlate, platesPage, pagesSpecies, plural of speciesSubspecies

Numerals and unitsA non-breaking space (Ctrl-Shift-Space) must be placed between the numeral (value) and the unit, e.g. 1250 m; 5.0 mm; 35 °C, to prevent separation at the end of a line.When a range of values are given the lowest and highest values are separated by an endash, e.g. 14–18 mm. The same applies with figures, dates and so on, e.g. 1956–2001; Figs 1–4. Where there are two possible numerals the “&” sign is used, with spaces either side, e.g. Figs 4 & 5. The equals sign = has a space either side, e.g. n = 71.

Names of taxaThe first mention of any organism should include the full scientific name of the taxon with unabbreviated name of author(s) and year of description, e.g. Lepidochrysops methymna methymna (Trimen), 1862. Note there is no comma between the taxon and the author’s name, but there is a comma between the author’s name and the date. Thereafter this is shortened to L. methymna with a non-breaking space (Ctrl-Shift-Space) to prevent separation at the end of a line.

TablesPresent tables should be presented in the simplest form possible. Tables must be numbered serially with Arabic numerals independent from figures. Tables should be provided at the end of the paper on separate pages and not embedded in the body of the text. Put the legends for tables on a separate page. When formulating tables, keep in mind that the final table will either fill 1 column (width 8 cm) or 2 columns (16.5 cm). The title of a table should appear below the table and include enough information for the table to be understood without reference to the text.

FiguresFigures include photographic images, line drawings, graphs and maps. The source of these images should be acknowledged if it is not one of the authors.At the time of initial submission, all images of figures (black and white or colour) should be sent in digital form, preferably in medium quality JPEG format, for easy upload.Upon acceptance of a paper, high quality images (600DPI) will be requested and submitted by the author(s) as an attachment to an e-mail. Digital images must be TIFF or maximum quality JPEG files. Should you have further queries on this subject, please contact the Editor. Figures must be numbered in a common sequence in Arabic numerals, irrespective of whether they are line drawings, photographs, diagrams, graphs or maps. Magnifications should be indicated by scale bars on the figures.References to figures in text and captions should be as Fig. (plural Figs) and Figure respectively. Figure captions should be listed on a separate page. Maps are considered figures and should be so captioned. Multiple figures in a single grouping on a plate may be individually numbered or subdivided alphabetically (e.g. Figs 1a, 1b, etc.). Line drawings in black and white should include a metric scale. When arranging your figures whether separately or grouped consider that they may appear either as 1 column (width 8 cm) or in 2 columns (16.5 cm). Please do not fail to consider that high quality photographs in black and white may be superior to the use of colour.

References and citations All citations in the text must be alphabetically and chronologically listed under References, using the Harvard citation protocol.In the text, references should be cited in the form “… Wilson (1998a)…”, (Wilson 1988a), (Southwood et al. 1979), or (Thomas & Thomas 1994). Please give full name of journals and conform to the following style of citation: